A Novel Gate Driving Approach to Balance the Transient Current of Parallel-Connected GaN-HEMTs
Conference: CIPS 2018 - 10th International Conference on Integrated Power Electronics Systems
03/20/2018 - 03/22/2018 at Stuttgart, Deutschland
Proceedings: CIPS 2018
Pages: 4Language: englishTyp: PDF
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Authors:
Hackel, Jonathan (Robert Bosch Center for Power Electronics, Reutlingen University, Reutlingen, Germany)
Ebli, Michael; Pfost, Martin (Chair of Energy Conversion, TU Dortmund, Dortmund, Germany)
Abstract:
To enable higher current handling capability of GaN-based DC/DC converters, devices have to be used in parallel. However, their switching times differ, especially if their threshold voltages are not identical, which causes unbalanced device current. This paper focuses on the homogeneous distribution of turn-on switching losses of GaN-HEMTs connected in parallel. By applying a new gate driver concept, the transient current is distributed evenly. The effectiveness of this concept is demonstrated by double pulse measurements, for switching currents up to 45A and a voltage of 400V. A uniform current distribution is achieved, including a reduction of the turn-on losses by 50% compared to a conventional setup.